Final Fantasy VII: Prodigal Ascension
by GrantP28
Summary: 10 years after Dirge. The World Regenesis Organization has fallen apart. Shinra has returned to its former glory and a new threat has taken over the majority of the Midgar and Mideel area. Now, Denzel becomes involved in a final struggle for the future as he, old allies and new OCs uncover the hidden past of the Planet. Please Read and review!
1. Prologue

Jenova.

Geostigma.

Shinra.

Sephiroth.

Omega.

The Planet has been through so much suffering.

All for the greed of men.

Only the will of the Planet has kept us alive this long.

We used to know what the Planet would tell us.

Cetra.

The Ancient Ones.

The Lifestream.

Once, long ago we could connect to it. And we would listen. But now, now we are paying for our selfishness.

AVALANCHE.

SOLDIER.

DEEPGROUND.

So many responsible for the Planet's sadness.

It's no wonder the Planet tried to protect itself.

Holy.

The Weapons

Chaos.

So much loss. And yet the corruption of man continued. The Planet was on its last breath.

We had taken so much away. Maybe, we deserved what happened.

. 

_**Midgar. Five days after the Omega crisis.**_

He stood there looking over the barren city, watching the gulls fly gracefully toward the sea and then bent down to pull a flower from the grove that grew over the ledge.

Behind him, the young boy he had brought with him nervously shifted his feet looking over his shoulder in the direction they had come. There wasn't much time for drawing this out, he thought as he unsheathed his massive sword and then slammed it into the rockface.

"Do you remember what I told you about this place?" he asked softly as the first drops of rain began to fall. The young boy approached him and nodded solemnly stating, "You said.. it was where a hero began his journey."

He nodded, the wind ruffling his spiky hair as he added, "It's also where I made a promise."

"What did you promise?"

"That I would keep going," he said turning to the young boy who had taken to him as a surrogate father and then placed his hand on his shoulder and remarked, "I want you to make a promise for me."

"Cloud..."

"I have to go for now, and you can't come with me. You have to stay safe, I want you to promise me that you will keep going..." he paused watching as the truck approached them and the young boy looked confused.

"What, whats going on?" he muttered.

"I need you to be brave, Denzel. Like you were in Midgar, remember?" Cloud asked squeezing his shoulder softly.

"Cloud..."

"Promise me," he reminded the youth as the truck came to a stop and the rain started to pour a little harder.

"You have to promise me too!" Denzel argued.

"Cloud if ya want to get goin', it's now or never," the driver called out.

Cloud placed his hood up and knelt down to look Denzel in the eye before answering, "I promise."

Denzel hugged him and said, "You better come back."

He reluctantly climbed onto the back of the truck as Cloud got on his motorbike and the two of them shared a silent look before they had to go their separate ways.

Soon the rain washed away everything, save for the fresh new flowers that grew near the ridge..

 _Even if the morrow is barren of promises,_

 _Nothing shall forestall my return._

 _To become the dew that quenches the land,_

 _To spare the sands, the seas, the skies_

 _I offer thee this silent sacrifice._

 _ **Author's note: I hope I can slowly get this story off the ground I have the entire thing outlined and I want authenticity as I write si updates may be slow at times. Be patient with me and I promise you will be rewarded with a great story. As always, please read and review!**_


	2. Chapter I

**_CHAPTER ONE_**

 _-7 years later_ -

Red dust spit up from the crevice of the rock, a few stray pieces of rubble hitting his protective shield as he finished running the drill and then lifted the goggles off of his head to get a clear view of the interior of the cavern.

Glancing up above to where he had originally descended, he tugged on the rope to make sure it is secure and then began to go even further into the dark pit.

Soon the young man's boots touched the floor of the dank cavern. He quickly turned on his flashlight and looked about, trying to determine which way to go. Last time I found the best source near the reservoir, he recalled listening for the trickling water.

The sound was distant but to his left and so once he had untied himself, he journeyed toward the noise careful not to awaken any of the baby Hegs that slithered in and out of the stalagmites.

Soon his light reflected off of the small pool of water and he set it down, gathering the necessary equipment from his backpack.

Wading into the knee deep pond, he placed the drill near the exposed rock and then slowly dug into it. For centuries this place had always had a vast supply of the raw material he was seeking, but now thanks to the necessity of supply and demand it was almost dry.

I just need to take what I have to have and nothing more he reminded himself as a few soft hisses from behind him told him the young serpents were paying attention to his every move.

Finally he finished and took the chunk of glowing green stone and carried it back to his sack. Carefully he put the raw Mako in the bag and then hefted it up, staring at the snakes for a moment and then racing back to where he had climbed down. Tying the rope around his waist he tugged to make sure it was still secure and then began to pull himself up.

As he emerged from the darkness, the orange glow of the sunrise pierced over the rising ridges of the canyon basking everything in a glow that he still never got tired of even after all these years.

Below the dangerous snakes hissed loudly upset they couldn't grab a free meal and he covered the entrance to the cave again with the nearby boulder.

Cautiously he climbed down the side of the rocky expanse and made his way back to the settlement on the east side of the canyon. If I'm lucky I will get there before anyone wakes up, he thought lugging the bag over his shoulder.

The trip back to the cliff side town was quiet and peaceful, something that had become normal to him ever since the recent treaty had been passed. Now, we are just waiting for the next shoe to drop, he realized angrily as he looked beyond the canyon.

We made a deal to keep us safe, but it cost us so much he realized. Now the only means if survival is trading with the enemy, he thought even as he heard footsteps approaching. He sat down on one of the many steep ridges that looked toward the eastern hills and waited for his four-legged companion to arrive.

The dark red feline approached him and lay down beside him before yawning and remarking, "It would seem you have been busy this morning, Denzel."

"Someone has to keep this place alive," the young man muttered as the wind blew thru his wavy hair. "You entered the Cave of the Gi again, didn't you?" the large cat asked with a sigh.

"Don't preach to me about being safe, Nanaki. I'm tired of it," Denzel spat back. "We have rules for a reason. I don't want to lose you. Not after everything we have gone thru to gain this peace," the feral cat snarled waving his fiery tail back and forth in frustration.

"It isn't really peace if we are in a prison," he said as he stood up and remarked, "I need to get these supplies to Gongaga."

"Sit down and eat breakfast," Nanaki ordered even as he gestured with his paw toward the meat he had brought.

"This looks like raw chocobo. So I'm not the only one who is violating the rules of this treaty," Denzel said with a smirk. "They won't dare attack Cosmo Canyon, this is a holy place. We can hunt the birds in peace as long as we don't harm the population," Nanaki argued.

"For being so in tune with the Planet, they sure do seem to ruin it," Denzel muttered as he started cooking the meat. "We can't hope to understand what goal they have in mind. Only what has been lost as a result. The WRO... Wutai, Junon," the red feline stated.

"Elena. . Marlene..." he whispered recalling those they had lost over the years and then whispered another name barely to himself.

"Hurry and heat that up or you will miss your ride," Nanaki advised. He nodded getting the meat at the right tenderness even as he heard the convoy approach the south side of the canyon. He tossed half of the meal to his guardian and then ran toward the truck, knowing it wouldn't stay there long.

They called themselves New Banora, and as far as Denzel was concerned they were the reason for all of his pain and guilt over the years. They had raised a revolt in Mideel ages ago, quickly taking over the entire continent before turning their attention to the remnants of Shinra.

But sadly in their attempt to take out those still loyal to the company, it had only stirred up more reason for the once powerful corporation to vie for power again.

He didn't want to think about all of the bloodshed that had followed...

Running down the ridge the young man approached the driver of the truck waving for him to take notice. The older man scowled and said, "What have you got good to trade Denzel?"

"A few spare antidotes, a potion or two. Enough gyshahl greens to make it to Gongaga," he answered passing the supplies to the trucker. "You keep traveling to that forsaken place, next time I will have to ask you why," he responded letting Denzel into the back of the vehicle.

He looked up toward the cliff face where Nanaki watched him leave, wondering if the car approved of the errands he ran just so they could get word from the outside world. He may choose to live in a prison, but I won't, he decided as he knelt down and then sat in the back of the truck as it lugged toward the eastern shores of the continent.


	3. Chapter II

**CHAPTER TWO**

When the sun had reached its peak in the cloudy sky, the truck came to a stop on the outskirts of Gongaga.

Denzel leaned forward and stared out at the bleak little town that somehow seemed to still have an inkling of life in it and asked the driver, "Why can't we just go all the way?"

"Sorry, I've got another cargo to take thru the mountains. Ain't got time to be waiting for you or trying to get close to that ghost town," the trucker responded as Denzel hopped off and muttered, "You won't be able to take me back?"

"Sorry, my boy. You can handle yourself." The vehicle puttered away as he stood there and looked down the winding road that led to the village. Sighing, Denzel gathered all of his things and started down the path. Maybe what I brought will also garner me passage back to Cosmo, he reasoned as he spotted a few farmers moving in from the west fields.

Even after all these years and the constant radiation that saturated the area, so many still called this their home he thought as he watched a few Kimara bugs skitter past him. Denzel paused to let the workers move toward the sleepy town first and then followed them down the left path, the tall weeds and meandering jungle easily making it hard to even see the village.

Soon he was approaching the dreary place, looking down at the aged graves that had an assortment of plants covering them up and he knelt down, wondering if eventually the Planet would swallow this place whole.

"If you keep standing here someone is going to think you belong in a hole too," a voice muttered breaking him of his thoughts and causing him to stand up.

He watched as the older man walked into the graveyard carefully as he used his guiding pole not to trip on anything. Once the blind redheaded man stood beside him, Denzel remarked, "I would say you are more likely to be mistaken for a corpse than me."

The older man smirked and gestured for them to walk toward the cliffside, a path he was likely more familiar with and said, "Feeling regret over loss doesn't change what happened. You of all people should know that, Denzel."

"I didn't come for a lecture, Reno," he said taking off his backpack and opening it up. "What did you bring me today?" the former Turk asked.

"The best raw Mako I could come up with. Last time I visited you promised some good sources if I got you some," Denzel answered. "That was three months ago, you've got a sharp memory," Reno observed. "The recent expansion of the militants reminded me," he said passing the bag to the blind man.

"There isn't much here, is there?" the redhead asked as he felt the material. "Shinra hasn't exactly been siphoning the Planet lately," Denzel pointed out.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Reno chided him as they approached the cliff that overlooked both the city and the nearby destroyed reactor. It was all but disappeared now, completely overtaken by the wildlife that surrounded Gongaga and Reno added, "Seems like it used to be my job to worry about things like that."

"Enough wasting my time, do you have any info or not?" Denzel asked. "If I recall correctly the only thing you cared to ask about last time was the WRO, and sadly I can't even verify if any members are around anymore. Save for trigger finger, he's still holed up in Junon," Reno muttered.

"They must have gone into hiding after what happened near the Saucer last year," he realized. "Circumstances force us into decisions we dont want to make, that's life," Reno said with a shrug as he sat down on a nearby boulder.

"So you don't have anything else to tell me?" Denzel asked. "I have plenty. Just because I have been out of the game doesn't mean I dont listen," the former Turk argued.

"I feel like you are wasting my time," he snarled in frustration. "Actually I hate to admit it but I think you did waste a trip, my most recent dispatches from Costa Del Sol tell me that Cosmo is all that the movement cares about these days," Reno admitted.

"Banora wouldn't break our treaty. They have too much riding on it," he argued. "True but Shinra would. Those usurpers from Deepground won't hesitate to attack your canyon. And if my info is right it will happen soon," Reno responded.

"But why? What are they after?"

"This is just speculation you know..." the red head muttered. "Just tell me," Denzel insisted.

"According to Johnny, Shinra is after your four legged friend. Seems they have unfinished business with Red XIII," the former Turk said grimly.

"Oh no," he said swallowing hard. "Like I said all of this is hearsay so it could be completely wrong," Reno insisted even as Denzel gathered his things. "I have to get back as quickly as possibile," he muttered even as the older man passed him a glowing Materia and he replied, "I figured you would say that. I keep this around in case of emergency. But it really don't do me much good with this disability." "I appreciate the warning, thank you!" the young man said racing down the path toward the open fields.

He leapt over a broken tree and then looked about the fields spotting fresh tracks. Reaching into his pack he took out some of the greens and then activated the Lure Materia Reno had given him.

A few stray beasts emerged from the crowd but one in particular couldn't resist the smell of the gyshahl. The giant yellow bird approached and began to eat it looking about the scene nervously as Denzel approached it.

Then without hesitation as it started to eat he ran over to it and quickly straddled the beast. The bird gave a startled kwewh and then flapped its wings excitedly even as Denzel held onto its neck and looked toward the west.


	4. Chapter III

**CHAPTER THREE**

Heat beat down on the back of the young man's neck as the bright yellow bird he rode on galloped across the countryside.

Every second away from Cosmo is another risking Red to be in danger, Denzel thought as the Chocobo splashed thru the winding river undeterred.

Soon the deep forests of the ancient trees surrounded him on all sides as he neared the base of the rocky area, the bird slowing down and growing more afraid as it went into the shrouded hills.

A flock of epiolnis was in his path coming up and the dangerous large birds seemed to take notice of his Chocobo immediately. Since the forest had grown out from the north hills, these strong meat eating flyers had begun to take use of the southern forest more and more. I don't have time for this, Denzel thought as he reached for his utility belt and took out the small dagger he normally had ready for such occasions.

The Epiolnis seemed to regard the weapon as a threat, advancing toward him as he waved the dagger toward their long necks. The Chocobo lurched back, ready to flee at any given notice but Denzel held firm, knowing that he would need the bird to reach the top of the rocky area.

Suddenly one of the birds rushed toward him with feathers flying in all directions and his own creature kwewhed and then bucked toward the left. Pushing back his hair, Denzel slashed at the monsters to keep them at bay as he rode by and leapt over a fallen tree. The Epiolnis seemed ready to pursue him further, but before he could, another noise distracted the wild animals.

Denzel looked up amid the canopy of trees and listened to the loud repetitive noise before realizing what it was. Helicopters. The trees pushed back from the amount of wind the machines were giving off and the monsters ran to hide even as Denzel watched them fly over ahead. Even from where he was, the young man could clearly make out the logo of Shinra Power Company.

Reno was right about the timing too he thought as he fed the Chocobo another batch of greens and rode as fast as he could into the mountains.

The helicopters seemed to slow for a moment and then Denzel saw a large missile fire out from one of the choppers to hit a rock near the entrance of Cosmo. Am I too late?

The bird had clearly decided it had seen enough and started bucking and cawing louder than before making it impossible for Denzel to control it easily. Without question he leapt from it knowing he couldn't waste another moment on the finicky bird and then took out his weapon and ran up the mountain path.

Already he could hear the sound of fighting as the choppers got closer and several men and women dressed in the familiar military uniform of Shinra dropped from the vehicles with rifles ready staring out toward the crowd as Denzel hid behind a large boulder and scanned the cliff side for Nanaki.

Where could he be? he wondered as a few stray shots ran out and then he spotted the fiery cat racing up the tall peak toward the old observatory. Behind him Denzel saw several Shinra employees closing in and he gritted his teeth. Not on my watch, he thought as he gripped his weapon tighter and waited for an opening amid the fighting.

One of villagers stood in his way for a moment and Denzel used that as his chance to run toward the winding path that led to the interior of the hollowed out canyon. Another soldier tried to grab ahold of him as he entered the abandoned storefront.

He scanned the room for anything that he could be used as a way of slowing his pursuer down and smiled when he spotted a long shelf filled with blue potions.

Sticking his weapon into the jar of liquid, Denzel pushed it against his attacker and jumped over him toward a ladder. Climbing as fast he could and pushing aside other items from the rocky shelf, the young man made it toward the opening near the observatory and finally got a clear view of the group pursuing Nanaki.

From this angle he saw two men and two women, all of various ages and backgrounds but what stood out was the clothing they wore. If I'm not mistaken that's the uniform that Reno used to wear back in the day, the Turks, Denzel thought as he looked to where the group was heading toward.

A small group of rocks that formed a solid foundation stood on the west side of the observatory and from here he could see another helicopter approaching. They are trying to capture Red, he thought anxiously as he quickly ran into the observatory to find a way there before them.

Down below more shots rang out as the Shinra Army moved in, innocents being rounded up to become hostages.

Denzel hesitated for a moment as he remembered that Nanaki said his first obligation was always toward the village. But without Red, we may not survive very long he thought as he heard the engines of the helicopter slowing down.

The foursome stood on the precipice, with Red turning toward them and realizing what was happening and Denzel gritted his teeth rushing up toward them and jumping across the rocks. The blades of the chopper roared louder and pushed dirt and pebbles across the top of the flat mountain, each of the Turks was slowly approaching the four legged feline and Denzel shouted, "Nanaki!"

The cat looked over the group to see him approaching and snarled, "Denzel, stay back!" Before either of them could get a word out one of the women hopped into the helicopter, pointing their weapon straight at him.

"Listen to him or this will be the last thing you ever see," she ordered as Red slowly got aboard the vehicle. "What are you doing?" Denzel asked angrily as the other Turks followed. "Go back to the canyon. You must protect them!" Nanaki argued as the helicopter began to rise toward the sky.

Denzel shook his head, this isnt happening. Running toward the side rail of the helicopter, the young man grabbed ahold and held tight as they began to fly over the Cosmo Canyon.

The young blonde man that drove the helicopter opened the door, the group inside precariously hanging on as another of the group looked out and muttered, "We have a tagalong."

Slowly Denzel began to climb up the side of the helicopter, knowing that each move he made could be his last as the younger girl took out a long sword and smashed it against the side of the vehicle. The young man avoided the blow and stabbed at the side of the helicopter knowing that if he could disable the engine.

"Denzel no!" Nanaki shouted as he carefully leaned on the door to match blades with one of the new Turks.

The two of them stood there on the edge of the flying machine as they approached the edge of the north mountains, Denzel knew that this was his only shot. Kicking the Turk back, the young man reached up and grabbed the weapon from her before using it on the exterior blades.

"What the-" The driver said his eyes widening as the blade smashed against the chopper. Smoke brimmed from the side of their vehicle as the Turk struggled to drive and Red muttered, "You dont know what you're doing..."

The group held tight as the black helicopter moved toward the mountains and began to descend.


	5. Chapter IV

Smoke drifted up aimlessly in the northern sky as he opened his eyes slowly, pain coursing through his body over the crash.

The first thing he could make out was a tall slender man, with short choppy blonde hair and dark green eyes holding a shotgun straight at his head amid the destruction. The pilot, he thought as he raised his hands defensively.

"Yeah on your feet," the pilot said spitting on the ground as Denzel looked about toward the other foursome that had raided Cosmo. The two women were easy enough to distinguish, one was the younger girl that had tried to attack him with the long sword. She had brunette hair that she wore in a pony tail and her bangs fell over her face in a mess as she was busy tending to an injury that the crash had caused on her knee.

The older taller woman had jet black hair styled similar to the way the women in Wutai used to wear when they were considered to be members of the shinobi. She had a few freckles under her brown eyes and looked at him with disdain as she also scanned the area for any signs of monsters.

The other two men almost looked like twins, both wearing dark blue blazers and both having matching long gray hair, the only difference he could make out was one of them had a scar across his face and it looked as though he had had his nose reconstructed from some old battle.

The final thing that caught his eye was Nanaki, the four legged companion he had known all his life bounded down to where the pilot was holding him at gunpoint and remarked, "Lower your weapons. Denzel did not know what he was doing."

He blinked for a moment and then looked at the entire group and muttered, "Wait. What is going on?"

"I'll tell you exactly what's going on here. You just botched a rescue operation," the tall dark haired woman spat out. "What?" Denzel asked turning to Nanaki for answers.

"It's true. I had received word that Shinra might be searching for me soon so I requested the aide of these mercenaries. Denzel, these are the Five Totema," the fiery cat explained.

"They were sent to... rescue you from Shinra?" the young man asked. The first twin rolled his eyes and remarked to their leader, "Dang Vance I think this one is dumber than the rocks out here."

The blonde approached Nanaki and muttered, "Still, you are quite skilled with that weapon of yours. I am Vance Altair, any friend of Red XIII is a friend of mine."

He extended his hand in friendship and Denzel hesitated for a moment before nodding and shaking it. The others in the group seemed to take their leaders hint and the twins stepped forward next.

"I'm Dirk, this is my brother, Gharek," the scarred one said pointing toward his twin.

The young woman smiled at Denzel for a moment and shyly diverted her eyes, "I'm Evaleyt.. sorry about. You know."

The last member of the group rolled her eyes and muttered, "Do we really have time for this? Shinra clearly already saw that we crashed out here. We need to get on the move."

She stormed past their pilot and up the ridge as Evaleyt walked toward Denzel to pass him his weapon back and explained, "That's Seraphina. She has a good heart so don't let her rub you the wrong way."

He nodded looking at Nanaki and stating, "I'm sorry. when I got to Gongaga I learned of the attack too. I thought the worst."

"You should've stayed there then, I can handle myself," the older feline growled following the mercenaries up the mountain.

Denzel frowned wishing that his friend could appreciate his concern and then slowly followed them up the treacherous ravine listening to their conversation. "Where did we land anyway? Everything happened so fast," Dirk remarked.

"Judging from the placement of the sun, somewhere in the Corel mountains. I think I made out the outskirts of Nibelheim as we flew out of the canyon in that direction," his brother said gesturing vaguely. "I would die for a compass right now," the first growled.

"We don't need one, these mountains stand between the rest of the continent and the vast Corel Desert, a sense of direction is simple once we establish a landmark," Vance remarked as they reached the peak of the rocky impasse they had crashed in.

Denzel was the last to arrive and stood on the precipice next to Red looking out over the entire range toward the shimmering desert which seemed to stretch out endlessly in all directions. At this angle the midday sun was slowly dipping over their heads moving toward evening and casting an orange pall over the entire Corel area.

In the center of the desert Vance pointed toward the massive sand covered dome that seemed to block the northern horizon, the gleaming light from the heavens still making portions of the once illustrious structure glitter like gold. "I have a contact in Old Corel, might be able to figure out how to get another ship," he explained as all of them looked at the ruins of the Saucer, each probably recalling where they had been a year ago when it fell.

According to some rumors Denzel had heard shortly after the incident, the collapse was something that could be heard all across the Planet. While he didn't know if that was true or not the young man was certain of one thing, ever since that day the entire Worldwide Network had gone dark. And no one truly knew if there had been any survivors.

Now instead of being the premier spot for entertainment and tourism, all the Saucer could stand for was the way things had decayed across the globe. "It will be dark soon. We will need to make it to the ruins by then," Gharek advised solemnly. "We're going in there?" Evaleyt asked as she played with her hair nervously and added, "Its probably brimming with monsters."

"Good thing we brought big guns," Seraphina replied dryly as she and Vance led their party on the downward path which led to the west outskirts of the vast wasteland.

"Denzel, stay close to me," Nanaki advised as the young man wiped more sweat from his brow. He nodded silently watching as the group that called themselves the Five Totema cautiously entered the dangerous desert.

He would go along with these mercenaries for now. But something about Reno's warning told him that he needed to be watchful of all his surroundings, especially when it came to bounty hunters he hardly knew.


	6. Chapter V

Night fell over the Corel Desert, making the blistering heat of the sand begin to feel cool against his feet as Denzel followed the group of mercenaries toward the gigantic dome that stood between them and Old Corel.

Despite the fact that they had traveled the length of the desert for at least an hour it seemed nothing would stop the bounty hunters from reaching the ruins especially now that the night was clear and it would be far easier for both Shinra and the local monsters to hunt them down.

He walked a little faster toward one of the twins to check to see if either had any water left in their pack and when they didn't Denzel almost wished he had never returned to Cosmo. "Not like this trek was something we planned," Seraphina remarked as they paused for a moment to take a break. "We're almost there. I haven't seen any Shinra patrols heading this way so that must mean Cosmo put up a bit of a fight," Altair said as he untied the scarf around his neck and wiped his face with it.

"Why are they after you?" Denzel asked turning to the feline that seemed to interest the evil corporation so much. "Hard to say. We know so little about how they even resurfaced after the collapse of Midgar. But if I had to guess, it might be because my race has always had a close connection to the Planet," Nanaki answered.

The break ended less than five minutes later but Nanaki's words hung in the air for each of them. It hadn't been said but that pretty much seemed to clear up for each of them what Shinra was after. A new means of collecting Mako.

Shinra had gained its fortune on siphoning the Planet using special reactors to forge the Mako for generations. But after Rufus had taken over, the company had pledged to find safer more efficient ways to harvest the material. None truly existed because turning the Lifestream into energy was still slowly killing the Planet, but according to the logic of the company, humans were meant to be the Masters of this world and Mako was a gift to allow us to reach our full potential.

If they had their way they would drain the Planet dry, Denzel thought as the shadow of the Golden Saucer loomed overhead and Vance led the way into the inner workings of the mighty structure. Soon all light disappeared save for artificial ones that the group carried and the occasional flickering of power that existed within the dome.

Some rumors said that after the collapse scavengers had entered the ruins to harvest the Saucer for parts, and as they climbed deeper thru the debris Denzel began to see some evidence that this was true.

Carefully the group climbed over the crumbling metallic plates and onto a teetering platform that connected to a rail, Vance scanned the tunnel ahead and then followed the northern steps up to a dark green opening that had a variety of letters still hanging above it and if Denzel had to guess it likely once said EVENT ZONE.

"The quickest way across will be to see if we can hotwire the old rollercoaster, we can probably access it from the main power station," Vance decided walking to the next pipe and adding, "We need to get to the central platform first, download a copy of the old maps to get an idea of where everything is."

"How does this place still have power?" Evaleyt asked keeping her weapon close to her side as they began to climb up another tunnel that was labeled BATTLE.

"Scavengers and nomads likely are deeper inside using this as a sort of base of operations," Seraphina observed as a few stray sparks of electricity flew over head. As they reached the top of the tunnel Denzel looked up at the edge of the broken steps recalling a trip he had taken here when he was very young. All that was left of the arena now was a few stray bricks that clung to the stairs, the rest of the area had fallen into the shadowy abyss below. Several other tunnels connected to the area but instead of moving any further Vance muttered, "This might be the safest place to rest. The Scavengers don't tend to climb this high since there isn't anything left of value up here."

"We can take different watches," Nanaki agreed as he walked about the bottom of the steps. "I'm not so sure I trust your protege, Red," Gharek said with a snicker. "Look how was I supposed to know who you were?" Denzel growled. "So you just attack every person that enters your canyon?" the other twin shot back.

"Leave him alone," Evaleyt insisted as she sat down next to him and added, "He was just trying to protect family."

Denzel looked toward the young woman and nodded in thanks before leaning back and stretching out. It did seem dangerous to stay here in this dark chamber, but at least they weren't openly exposed like they had been in the desert.

The others settled down as well as Gharek took the first watch his weapon ready as the sound wind whistling thru the empty space of the Saucer made it almost impossible for the rest of them to truly relax.

Finally it seemed as though exhaustion had overpowered all of them and Denzel closed his eyes listening to the strange sounds coming from the interior of the Saucer. He didn't get to sleep for long though as the pilot jerked him to his feet about an hour later and growled, "We have to move."

"What's going on?" he asked groggily as they all climbed across the broken tunnel that led to another portion of the Saucer. "Death Claws are on the prowl, they feed off of anything they can find and I guarantee our being here will be a tasty meal for them if they find us," Vance answered as the young man heard the soft sound of hissing in the darkness below. Cautiously Dirk and Gharek led the way using their emergency beacons to light up the path and avoid exposed wiring.

"If we are lucky we can reach the rollercoaster by early dawn," Seraphina observed raising her hand to listen to the shadowy depths of the tunnel ahead and then gestured for one of the twins to pass her a flashlight.

Gharek did so and the tall dark haired woman shone it down the bleak corridor as far as she could go before remarking, "Something is down there..."

Almost as though on cue to her words, a rumbling from above caught all their attention and each of them prepped their weapons as the noise grew closer. From amid the circuits and rumble the nose of a massive Land Worm, its large maw opening and closing smelling the air.

"Careful, its blind it can't see us so don't make any sudden movements," Vance advised.

As the blind creature moved toward Seraphina she nervously hoisted her weapon at its mouth muttering, "I don't see the harm in blowing its head off.."

"Steady, Seraph. Where one is more of them will follow," their leader remarked. She kept her weapon up to watch the worm as it drew closer, each of them waiting to see what would happen. The creature screeched as though searching for something and Seraphina couldn't hold her ground any longer letting out a few rapid shots.

The Land Worm reared back in shock from the shots and fell into the tunnel causing the whole structure to lurch as the noise of its roar and the weapon echoed around them.

More screeches came from behind them and Dirk said, "That doesn't sound good."

Activating the Materia slot in his gun, Altair fired a burst of lightning at the worm to paralyze it and shouted to all of them, "Move! Now!"

Denzel cautiously looked behind them as they began to move, listening to the clattering monsters as their red eyes appeared in the shadows and then Evaleyt snatched his arm and pulled him to the side as the worm lurched and writhed trying to recover from the blows it had received.

The two of them dashed thru the dimly lit tunnel after the others as the noise grew louder and Gharek fired a few random shots into the darkness to ward them off. The floor beneath them shifted and crumbled as they moved from platform to platform avoiding any wrong steps.

Suddenly a massive gap separated Nanaki, Evaleyt and himself from the others and he slowed to a halt; his heart beating faster then ever before. The young woman turned brandishing her long sword as the humanoid insects skittered out of the tunnel and shouted, "Anybody got any ideas?"

Their four legged companion peered out across the gap and said, "I can make the leap. But can only carry one of you at a time."

"Are you crazy?" Evaleyt asked as she stabbed one of the Death Claws in the heart and then kicked it off the rickety platform.

Nanaki watched the monster fall to its death before remarking, "It bears the alternative."

The young woman pushed her hair out of her face as more of the creatures scrambled to attack. "Fine, take Denzel first," she decided to which he asked, "What, why?"

"This is no time for arguing. Climb on," the fiery feline ordered and he did so even as the insects drew closer and the young woman fended them off.

Without hesitation the cat rushed toward the edge leaping to the other side with ease. Denzel rolled off and one of the twins helped him up as Nanaki prepared to return.

He looked across the space to see three of the Death Claws grow closer to Evaleyt and the young woman closed her eyes as though trying to muster up more strength.

A soft white light encircled her and then beams of energy shot from her blade to kill the enemies pushing them back like a sharp burst of wind. Red made the leap and she climbed on his back placing the weapon back in her sheath and holding tight around the cat's neck.

Once all of them were reunited, Denzel caught his breath and saw the Death Claws had given up the chase for now and turned to the young woman asking, "How did you do that?"

Before she could answer Vance interrupted their short break and shouted, "We need to keep moving before anything bigger finds us."

Evaleyt lowered her eyes and looked visibly tired but none of them argued with their leader as they left the central platform and climbed further up into the Saucer.


	7. Chapter VI

**CHAPTER SIX**

Glass cracked under the heel of his boot as he stepped into the next chamber, his body weary from the long journey over the night.

Denzel pushed the motorcycle out of the way which had been used in a simulation game when the entire tree like structure had worked properly and then felt a sharp breeze from above.

Glancing up the young man realized this particular zone had a collapsed ceiling allowing for open air and water to seep into the Saucer.

Vance stopped short of where the open canopy was at and gestured for everyone else to halt as well as they listened to the sound of approaching helicopters. Denzel craned his head to spot three black flying vehicles slowly scanning the area with s bright beacon and heard Dirk muttering, "Shinra doesn't know when to give up do they?"

"They will not stop until I am in their custody," Nanaki agreed as the helicopters disappeared from sight and Vance settled his sack down on the broken console nearby. The soft warble of a robotic moogle was heard from somewhere else in the room as they each took a moment to catch a breathe.

"By now they must realize where we are heading, we need to get to Corel and fast," Seraphina growled.

"Too bad this thing doesn't work," Gharek said kicking the simulation bike. "We will never make it on foot, I'm sure they will send ground patrols out next," Vance replied as they checked the other stations for any spare parts.

"How far are we from the rollercoaster?" Evaleyt asked.

"Not far," their leader said as Nanaki looked toward the heavens and said, "This is my burden. None of you should be forced to run when I am the one they want." "If you are even considering giving yourself over to them I will slap you," Denzel growled.

"We can check the coaster and make a decision from there," Vance decided glaring at the fiery cat as well and muttering, "But no one gets left behind."

Together they left the Wonder Square, the continuous noise of the broken games playing as they walked toward the next tunnel, a long drop to the only other portion of the Saucer that still stood intact. Dirk rummaged thru his backpack and found a rope. Tying it to the nearby terminal he checked to be sure it was secure and then gestured to Seraphina and Evaleyt.

"Ladies first," he said nervously.

Seraphina rolled her eyes, tying the rope around her waist and then began to repel down the side of the building to the portion of the broken attraction below.

Silence fell over all of them as they followed her, each knowing that time was essential if they were going to get ahead of Shinra. When they reached the next platform, Denzel looked about at the broken circuitry of the Speed square and wondered how it could still be running after so long.

Dirk and his brother quickly began to check the console's as Evaleyt scanned the rail which led farther into the ruins of the Golden Saucer and she asked, "Are we sure this is entirely safe?"

"I think that was thrown out the window the moment we came inside," Gharek said dryly as he turned to their leader and added, "Everything checks out. It shouldn't take long to get the rollercoaster up and running."

"Make it so," Vance said with a nod even as a shrill sound from somewhere else in the Saucer caused all of them to be on edge again.

"According to the map the coaster would take us to the farthest northern segment of the ruins, near the old hotel. From there we cross the desert again and reach Old Corel," Altair muttered checking his watch and growling, "You better be glad this coaster is still functional boy."

Denzel sheepishly lowered his head wondering if the mercenaries would ever forgive him for his impetuous attitude when he had first met them a day earlier, but he still didn't regret the decision to help Nanaki. This is the farthest I have been since we were forced to evacuate Costa Del Sol three years ago, he thought recalling that was the last time he had seen his surrogate mother.

Shaking away the horrifying memories he watched as the rail lit up and then from the east a long set of cars rolled up to the platform, clattering and shaking as they came to a halt and Gharek muttered, "All aboard..."

Each of them took a seat on it as they waited for the other twin to activate the controls and then the lumbering metal lurched forward with a jolt and slowly moved away from the dark chamber altogether.

No one said a word as they traveled along. Perhaps each of them were still on edge after their recent encounter, and Denzel didn't blame them. At this rate we will be lucky to make it out alive, he thought as a few stray sparks shot off into the dark early morning sky.

Gharek and Evaleyt kept their weapons ready as Seraphina served as a lookout on the front and Nanaki in the back. The other two were resting for a moment and Denzel wondered if there was a way he could be useful or not.

He leaned over the side of the slow moving ride scanning the area below for any signs of movement. This close to the mountains, larger creatures likely find shelter he thought. Deep in the darkness below he heard the sound of rumbling almost a gutteral sound and hr turned to Vance asking, "Did you hear that?"

The mercenary leader opened his eyes slowly and muttered, "You're hearing things. This place has you spooked."

Denzel tried to reassure himself that was the case but then all of the sudden the rollercoaster came to a halt and they were sitting in almost complete darkness.

"Power failure," Seraphina guessed as she got her weapon ready. Denzel looked about at the other mercenaries who were also ready to shoot at whatever moved and then suggested, "Maybe it would be better if we moved out of here quietly."

Nanaki let out a soft laugh and said, "My young friend is right, we need not attract any more unwanted attention." Eventually the others lowered their weapons following the feline down the narrow rails toward the nearest cliff face and climbing onto the rocks.

The noise Denzel had heard earlier was louder this time causing them all to turn out and look for its source. "We need to go," Vance advised his voice nervous as he seemed to know what was headed their way. Denzel wondered if there was any chance that they could fight off whatever it was but then from amid the noise below an answer came.

Thru the fog and darkness the young man saw a large blue shape floating toward them. It's long wings were the first thing he took notice of. Slicing the air easily and increasing speed the massive reptile let out another sound and Denzel realized it was after them.

"Dragon!" he yelled to the others who were further in the tunnel.

The Five Totema heard his warning instantly thanks to the acoustics of the cavern and Denzel ran up to Evaleyt grabbing her by the hand and starting to run up the inclined cavern. The steep rocks and unsteady pathway made it hard for them to progress as the dragon started scrambling up the tunnel as well.

The group heard the monster snarl and growl louder as they ran as fast as they could. Dirk and Evaleyt tried to push rocks past their friends to hit the beast as they climbed, but Denzel knew that would hardly make a difference for a creature this size.

The dragon extended its long neck trying to snap at them, Vance yelled out, "I think I see an escape route."

The others didn't hesitate to listen to their leader as the blue dragon roared and shot out a long wave of cool over the group ready to freeze them all. Thinking quickly, Nanaki rushed up thru a narrow portion of the meandering cavern pushing a boulder down to block the breath of the fearsome behemoth.

Vance was the first to reach the upper segment of the cave, a hole carved almost by hands was between them and the next room and Denzel felt certain that the blue beast would not be able to follow them there. Grabbing Gharek's hand the young man felt himself lifted up into a large open air room that appeared to be another segment of the Saucer that had fallen into the mountains themselves.

For a moment they all held their breath as they heard the monster try and breach the room they were in, Seraphina and Evaleyt had their weapons prepared for another round even as the massive creature clawed at the crumbling rock.

Just as its head rushed thru the hole, a loud disturbing cry came from all around them and Denzel looked up to see a strangely garbed man standing near the broken roof. Again he made the noise which seemed to disorient the dragon and then as if from nowhere neatly twenty or two nomads seemed to scramble out of the darkness from all sides of the room, with spears, swords and anything else they could use as a weapon.

Evaleyt tugged him to stand back as the dragon pushed it's way into the chamber, surrounded now on all sides by the wild people that quickly started thrashing their weapons at it. Another low burst of ice came from the creature as several of the nomads climbed onto its back, jabbing their weapons into the tough skin.

Denzel watched in amazement as others in the group prepared rope, tossing it over the hulking monster and then tugging hard to ground the dragon. The blue creature snarled on anger as another nomad smashed its weapon into the monsters right eye and then it crashed onto the old tile floor, smashing bits of the old paint up in the air.

Finally the nomads finished their battle, wounding the creature beyond recovery and for a moment silence again reigned over the entire group. Then the one that had initially sounded the call turned toward the mercenaries and took the cloth from over his face, gazing at them with curious eyes.

Vance stepped forward, bowing to the nomadic chief and remarking, "We are humbly grateful."

The dark skinned man looked at the small group and muttered, "Why have you come and brought this death?"

The other bounty hunters wisely also bowed and Denzel did too as Vance answered, "Forgive us, circumstances prevented us any other passage. We are seeking solace in Corel."

The nomads looked at each other in surprise and Seraphina added, "We seek the one that saved you during the fall of the Saucer."

Their leader covered his face again and pointed toward the dark cavern beyond the last remnants of the Saucer and stated, "Follow me."

Denzel looked at his four legged companion for confirmation and then all of them did as the wild scavengers instructed and disappeared into the tunnel beyond.

 _Author's note: sorry for the delay in updates I have been very busy lately but I hope to continue soon and also fix a few errors in previous chapters. Thanks again for all support and any thoughts on new additions is appreciated_


	8. Chapter VII

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Corel smelt like rotting flesh mixed with water and blood that had sat out in the scorching sun too long. And that was likely just the beginning, he thought as the nomads led them out of the dark caverns into a small canyon deep in mountains.

Denzel looked at all of the makeshift tents, the piles of old barrels and scraps that had once been put to good use and couldn't help but to wonder just what sort of help they might find here.

He knew things had gotten bad across all of the Planet, but seeing children sitting in filth and people walking about checking trash cans for any scraps of food left by the roaming wildlife just seemed to bring it all to a new reality to him. If things were this bad here, then what chance was there for any recovery at all?

The group if scavengers that had led them out of the Golden Saucer approached a tent that was in the middle of the camp, their leader raised a hand to indicate they needed to wait outside and Vance muttered, "I know whom to talk to here."

But Denzel could tell by the look in the nomads eye that there was little point in arguing about anything with them so the Five Totema waited as their fate was decided in the tent beyond.

"Shinra seems to have not decided to upset things here yet," Gharek observed as he looked about and added, "With the sheer amount of traps they have around this canyon I'm surprised nobody has triggered this place to blow by now."

Nanaki smirked at his comment as the tent opened up and an older man covered in scars all over his body walked toward them. It seemed as though at one time this man had been able to take care of his body, but now age and likely stress had made him look old and weak. Something told Denzel though this was not the man to mess with he thought as he approached them.

"Sadeer tells me you crossed the desert by foot. Is this true?" the man asked as Vance nodded and said, "That is true. We come from Cosmo, we were delayed making our way toward the North Continent."

"Mercenaries?" the aged fighter asked crossing his arms and looking at both Nanaki and Denzel. "We were seeking to contact the WRO," the fiery feline responded.

"That would explain why Shinra has been so active lately," he said with a nod.

All the other scavengers seemed to take notice of this announcement as though regarding the newcomers as cursed and then the scarred man gestured toward the blonde pilot and Nanaki and said, "Come inside my tent, we can discuss matters privately."

The feline brushed past Denzel and muttered, "Keep an eye out for trouble, but also try to get some shut eye."

He nodded slightly watching his friend follow Vance into the tent and then turning to the other mercenaries who were already trying their best to relax. It was a difficult thing to do considering all they had gone thru to get here.

The nomad that had first led them here walked toward the twins offering them both bottled water and the one that had no scar smiled I'm thanks as Denzel sat down alongside Evaleyt and sighed, weary and worn out.

Seraphina was the only one who seemed determined not to relax at all, perhaps she still felt guilty over the incident in the Saucer, he thought. The black haired woman didn't make her feelings clear though and instead primed her weapon and walked toward the canyon edge to watch for potential threats.

"She seems like a difficult person to get close to," Denzel observed as Sadeer returned again this time with two more bottles for the both of them.

"She's been thru a lot, we all have. Being mercenaries, living on the run, it's not exactly what we thought would be how we spent our days," Evaleyt commented as she tied up her hair into a ponytail.

"What about you? What's your story?" he wondered drinking some of the cool beverage.

She smiled and for a moment didn't speak as though she was considering where to begin, Denzel could tell she had soft eyes but somewhere under that kind exterior was a girl in pain. "I was raised in Midgar, probably a little different than any social status you might have been familar with. I called the slums my home since the day I was born, it was just my mother and I," she answered.

"I know that life all too well, after Meteor... I was begging for scraps," he said brushing his wavy hair back. "Seems a lifetime ago when the Planet saved us doesn't it? I was barely a child and it still is only a memory. It's sad how some now even doubt it ever happened. More propaganda spread by Banora, undoubtedly. 'We are salvation,' they say," Evaleyt said with a laugh.

"I cant ever forget, I lived thru that time and all the trials we been thru since," Denzel said even as she nodded and said, "When Shinra rose to power, they killed all that I ever cared about. So I did what anyone would do, I fought back, as hard as I could," she answered holding back a tear.

"I lost my family too, even the people who I came to call family," he said looking down at the ground sadly. "So many lives lost as we tried to protect that forsaken city, if only we had seen what was coming... maybe things would have been different," the brown haired girl agreed as she finished the cool drink.

"No one could have seen this happening, I know the people I fought with thought they could beat this. Maybe we still can," Denzel suggested.

"You sure have a lot of faith in them, don't you?" Evaleyt asked with a smirk. "I have hope, and hope always survives," he said even as he spotted Vance and Nanaki returning.

"What's the word?" Dirk asked from where he was sitting. "Dio has agreed to help us, there is a dune buggy hidden in the nearby caverns, we can take that to the west," Altair answered.

"A buggy? That's not going to get us far," the other twin observed as he stood up. "He has to get some fuel for it first so that will give us time to recuperate, but it's the only thing we have at our advantage right now. Shinra still believes we are traveling by foot, so we will leave by cover of nightfall and they can keep thinking that," their leader said ignoring their complaints.

Vance walked off toward some of the other tents and Denzel moved over to Nanaki and asked, "Why are we headed west, I thought we were trying to get to Costa Del Sol?"

"Its too risky now with all of the active Shinra agents in the area, we need to move quietly and quickly. The dune buggy can get us to Highwind Bay, from there I'm sure we can gain another airship to cross to the north," the feline answered.

Denzel nodded recalling that the area had once been home to the first aviation tests ages ago and since then had been known for being foremost in the field. First it was central in Shinra's space program and then after Meteor became the WRO's main airbase. Surely there was something left behind after all this time, he thought feeling reassured.

"Get your rest while you can," Gharek advised as Seraphina returned glaring at all of them. The black haired woman had a look of disappointment on her face since it seemed for the time being they were safe and Denzel followed Dirk into one of the nearby tents to find a makeshift bed of pallets and old blankets.

If we are lucky we will make it thru the day without any further problems he thought as he laid down and started to unwind.


	9. Chapter VIII

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

In his dreams he found himself wandering the streets of the beach resort alone. Nothing seemed to stir despite the fact that he felt cold, but then realized it must have been coming from within his body. Looking down at the streets Denzel saw a trail of blood, and then heard a fury of bullets.

To his left he saw a familiar face, Barret Wallace standing like a hulking guard keeping any of the strange shadows at bay as he yelled in defiance and yet the young man couldn't hear anything. He was frightened. He was nearly thirteen again, running thru the stained stone roads as he searched for the others.

He tried to call out to them, tried to be heard over the screams. The shadows had consumed Barret now, his gun arm barely protruding from the darkness as Denzel screamed out frantic to find the others.

Tifa? Where were you? He heard her voice like a muffled cry. But it wasn't asking for his help, instead the woman he had come to consider his adoptive mother was being pinned down by one of the arriving shadows. The enemies were clearer now, his vision making out the Deepground logo emblazoned on their shoulders as they pointed their weapons at her.

Tifa shouted for him to run as she struggled to fight back. And he did. He ran, he never looked back. Red XIII was by his side, they could make it. They could make it. And then as though from the depths of the earth more unholy monsters crept forth.

In the midst of the shadows Denzel saw something dark red, a figure he knew to be somehow connected to all the sorrow he had experienced and despite his fears he shouted in defiance. He was done running.

But all the shadows did was mock him. And then devour him whole. The young man woke with a start clinging to the sheets with sweat on his body as he looked about the dreary tent and then rubbed his eyes tiredly.

He glanced at Nanaki who was curled up on the floor near to him and he shook away the strange mixture of memories and nightmares trying to believe that those he fought with years ago were still out there, somewhere.

Walking out and into the calm evening Denzel glanced at the still canyon, most of the scavengers had retreated for the night. The only one really still up was Seraphina who refused to even try and rest despite all the efforts the others had made.

The woman glanced at him as he climbed up to where she was perched overlooking the settlement of Corel and he noted her eyes were fixed on the edge of the camp where old train tracks ran deeper into the mountains.

"Shinra is getting closer, I saw smoke from the old reactor off in the distance. I think they might be trying to rig an explosion of some sort," she said brushing her bangs aside and leaning against her long rifle.

"Why haven't you alerted the others?" Denzel asked trying to look thru the mountains at what she saw. "We wouldn't have time to run anyway," she said with a shrug as he glared at her and then jumped back down to the sandy canyon. Running across the camp, the young man spotted the nomadic leader and yelled out, "Shinra is almost here."

The former owner of the Golden Saucer frowned and nodded before gesturing toward one of the larger tents in the camp and answered, "Find yourself a suitable weapon and then you and your friends leave this place. We can handle Shinra."

Denzel looked at all of the scavengers who had easily defeated a large dragon just that morning and knew that Dio was telling the truth. He opened up the tent and slipped inside spotting Dirk and his brother gathering what supplies they needed for the long trip and then held a finger up to his mouth to let them know they needed to be quiet.

Closing up the tent Denzel listened as the sound of footsteps got louder as well as a train horn. Apparently whoever had come to Corel had chosen to ride it all the way into the encampment, he thought.

Dirk pulled at his shirt muttering, "Come on, Vance said we all meet at the northern outskirts."

He nodded listening as the sounds grew louder and then at last stopped

Dio was the first to speak. "Director Tseng, you are a long way from home."

Denzel's ears perked up at the name, frowning and remembering how the former leader of the Turk had turned on his allies long ago. For some reason curiosity got the better of him and he knelt down to listen further.

"Home is a word I don't believe I can use anymore, sensei. Seeing as mine died a long time ago.".

"And who's fault is that?"

"I didn't come here to discuss the past, Dio," the Turk said icily.

"Then what has brought you and your men to Corel?"

Denzel looked thru a small hole in the fabric and thought he saw at least thirty soldiers. There were probably more on the other side. Time to go he thought as Gharek pulled him away from the door.

Quietly the young man followed him out the back way against the canyon wall as he caught snippets of the conversation.

"... fugitives. Have you seem them?' Tseng asked.

"Corel is a free state, if anyone came here with a price on their head it was erased."

"Unfortunately that is not how the rest of us govern ourselves, sensei. So if you don't mind we will be searching the encampment."

"I warn you, Tseng. Your company has no jurisdiction here," Dio said as Denzel looked over one of the rocks to see some of the nomads unsheathing their weapons.

If things went south this whole place could transform into a blood bath in minutes, he thought crouching down.

"Don't try anything foolish Dio," the Turk said as he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the old fighters head.

"You going to shoot me like you did Elena? Go ahead, at least I can see you die in front of me with my last breath."

"You don't know anything, old fool," Tseng said preparing to fire as Denzel froze unable to look away.

"Sir!" a new voice said and this time Denzel thought he was seeing a ghost as the curly haired girl approached leaping over a few of the soldiers with ease. It couldn't be...

Cissnei. His heart skipped a beat. But I saw her die, he thought thinking back to the dream and to the memory that made it all too real. Costa Del Sol. She was attacked by Deepground, her last words crying out in defiance as she shot back against the hordes.

Yet here she stood unfazed by that or any battle in the two years since. Almost like she had been reborn. "Report," the Director ordered.

"We caught one of the vigilantes trying to leave the camp via a small passage to the west," Cissnei said as Denzel found himself growing more and more surprised. "Looks like you got lucky Dio," Tseng said with a laugh.

"Dirk," the twin crouching beside him muttered shaking his head and checking his backpack.

He pushed aside his straight auburn hair and took out one of the red Materia stating, "What we need is a distraction."

Denzel took a look at the image of the Esper trapped within and his eyes widened as he whispered, "You can't summon that here. We could all die!"

"He's my brother," Gharek said as though that justified his action and then tossed the red sphere over the rockface.

Denzel stood up giving away their position as he watched it bounce and roll straight to the middle of the camp. Cissnei looked up at him, gave a quizzical look and then picked up the Materia.

For a moment nothing happened as the Deepground soldiers waited for orders and then abruptly the orb burst out and the red energy seeped into the ground below.

"Get them!" Tseng shouted as s barrage of bullets fired toward the two young men. Denzel and Gharek sprinted down the slope toward one of the storage sheds even as the earth around them began to shake.

Slipping thru the rickety wooden doors Denzel scanned the interior of the building for anything better to fight with and quickly spotted several grenades and assault rifles even as he heard a collective groan come from their enemies. "Come on!" Gharek yelled as he kicked loose the exit on the opposite side.

Together they ran into the central portion of Corel where chaos had quickly taken over. Chunks of rock and sand had meshed together with raw energy giving life to the dangerous Titan, it's glowing yellow irises taking in the entire camp in mere seconds as its hulking form blocked the afternoon sun.

Deepground frantically fired at it as the Esper picked up large segments of the canyon wall preparing to obliterate all below.

Running in-between the Simon's legs Denzel spotted Dio dueling with the former Turk and shouted out, "Heads up!"

Dio turned his head as the young man tossed a live grenade toward them and then ducked to the side even as Tseng also barely escaped the blast.

Amid the cloud of smoke that followed he caught sight of Cissnei leading Dirk away from the canyon with a shuriken at his back. "Get to the buggy," Denzel shouted to Gharek as he climbed.

Her dark brunette hair fell over her face as she turned to face him pointing her other weapon at him and warning, "Don't come another step."

Denzel looked at her in shock his resolve to fight faltering as he asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't answer to you boy," she snapped back. Denzel felt another barrage of bullets fly by as he caught sight of something in her eyes and realized that she didn't remember him.

"Denzel!" Dirk shouted and then added, "Jump!"

He didn't hesitate this time as the Titan smashed his fist in the space where he had just been standing. Cissnei fell from the rocks as the other twin leapt toward the Esper's arm. Denzel extended his hand and grabbed Dirk pulling him up even as a roar from above told them more troops were arriving.

The two of them clung to the gigantic Summon as they both noticed portions of the creature were falling off as its health waned and Dirk muttered, "Time to go."

Denzel nodded, got to his feet and began running along the length of the Esper's arm jumping to the ground below at the last second.

He looked back to where Cissnei lay unconscious and wondered just what Shinra did to her even as they arrived at the passage which led to the dune buggy. I will find a way to save her too, he resolved as he spotted the others in their small group getting aboard the large land vehicle.

Seraphina tossed the rope ladder over one of the bulky tires as Gharek helped his wounded brother climb up.

Denzel turned to see more Deepground approaching the mouth of the cave and put a round into the assault rifle pointing it toward the stalactites.

As the rocks fell over them he too climbed aboard and felt the buggy shake and come to life, slowly driving away from the carnage.


	10. Chapter IX

**CHAPTER NINE**

For the first few hours all that could be heard was the repetitive noise of the red vehicle's engine and rocks spitting out from under the tires hitting the cavern wall.

All of them were sore, tired and hungry, the little respite they had gotten in Corel not nearly enough to recharge their internal batteries.

The twins slept right next to each other, both wounded from the battle and with limited supplies Vance had insisted they wait to see if their injuries would get infected.

The pilot had spent the time driving only occasionally switching with Evaleyt when one of them grew tired. They couldn't afford to stop, Shinra undoubtedly knew where they were heading now.

Denzel himself had been staring off thinking of all they had just gone thru, his mind racing to find solutions and yet few came to mind.

Sometimes he would look across at the shirt haired woman and feel some animosity toward her, he only hoped it didn't show on his face.

It soon became clear that it wasn't as Seraphina asked, "Do you have something to say to me?"

He looked away, biting his words back as she commented dryly, "Out with it, you have been staring at me for the past fifteen minutes. If you have something to say, just say it."

Denzel glared at her and responded icily, "You mean like how you warned us about Shinra?"

Her dark blue eyes narrowed and she muttered, "I gave as much heads up as I could, not my fault the rest of you were sleeping."

"That's a lie and you know it!" Denzel said getting to his feet and adding, "If you had came into Corel fifteen minutes earlier maybe there would have been chance for us to get away unseen."

Evaleyt turned her head to stare back at the two of them and commented softly, "Please let's not have any bickering."

"Stay out of this. You're just as young and foolish as him! If you hadn't interfered with us in Cosmo none of this would've happened!" Seraphina shouted back.

"I was told there was going to be a raid, I acted to protect my friend. He's the only one I have left," he replied defensively.

"And why might that be? You are too weak to do anything about this situation you are in. If you had any guts at all you would have left to fight a long time ago," she spat back.

"Enough please," Evaleyt said standing between the two of them. The short haired woman stared at him for another moment and then walked up toward the front of the vehicle where Vance and Nanaki were even as Denzel sat back down.

"She doesn't know the first thing about me," he muttered. "Neither do you about her," Evaleyt pointed out as she adjusted her pants and then sat opposite of him. "The moment we start fighting amongst ourselves, the enemy has already won," she pointed out.

He nodded, recalling how Tifa had told him something similar ages ago as he stretched and then looked over at the sack of what little Materia they still had left. Nanaki stepped over it and looked at him with curious eyes remarking, "You should know better than to question our allies, Denzel. We need all the help we can get when we reach Highwind Bay."

"I get the feeling we will he walking into a trap of some sort," Evaleyt agreed with a nod. "Shinra wouldn't dare go close to that place, they are firmly aligned with New Banora," Dirk said as he stretched and yawned.

"Thats true, but that doesn't mean we won't find trouble when we get there. At times the two conglomerates have chosen to look the other way when it meets their interests. Banora and Shinra haven't exactly been fighting much lately, not after what happened at the Saucer a year ago," Nanaki pointed out twitching his tail back and forth.

"We can't afford to waste another Esper," Seraphina added glaring at the twins who were now both awake. "Then we should get in the old fashioned way. By sneaking in," Denzel suggested, deciding for now to put aside his grudge for the black haired girl.

"Denzel is right," Gharek said choosing not to meet the others gaze and knowing that it was his fault the Materia was lost.

"There is another problem, with our position exposed Shinra must know we are trying to return to the WRO. We need to figure out a way to lose them," Nanaki pointed out.

The group seemed to consider this problem for a moment and then Dirk said, "Maybe once we reach Highwind Bay we will need to split up?"

"What do you mean?" his brother asked. "Obviously Shinra doesn't know where the WRO is holed up right now, so we trick them and steal two airships. They will follow both and divide up their forces. Then we can easily meet up once we lose them in the wind," Dirk explained.

"I can't fly an airship," Evaleyt muttered.

"I can," Seraphina said considering the plan and then all of them noticed that the land rover had stopped. Altair entered the small room where they had been conferring and muttered, "We may need a better plan then that. I just got a look at the outskirts of the town."

"What is it?" Gharek asked noting their leaders fright. Vance looked at them all and explained, "The Wutai army is here."


	11. Chapter X

**CHAPTER TEN**

Sounds of insects and local beach life filled the air as the young man followed Vance Altair up to the exterior of the hidden tunnel. A full moon hung over the village as they crouched down and looked at the numerous torches and covered war machines, literally hundreds of soldiers were resting in the pasture that surrounded Highwind Bay.

Beyond the campfires and tents Denzel could make out the town itself, a few stray airships clung to bouys near the edge and the old rickety metallic ladder which once hung to the Shinra rocket could be seen in the clear night sky.

Getting to any of those things would be downright impossible anytime soon though he thought as he wondered what Wutai was doing here anyway.

"At least three hundred," Nanaki whispered as he returned from a higher segment of the Nibel Mountains. A gentle mist rolled over the covered mouth of the cave they were hiding in as Vance rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Attempting a straight assault would be suicide," he remarked as his second-in-command brought him some binoculars. Laying on his stomach Vance adjusted them to try and get a good look at the army as Denzel wondered aloud, "Why are there so many of them here?"

"It's certainly not a military exercise," Seraphina said dryly as Altair passed her the binoculars back. "It must be an invasion force. There have been rumors swirling all across the Planet that General Leachate is eager to expand his territory. With the full support of New Banora, it's been easy for them to maintain control over the lesser districts. Truthfully, this continent is the only one they have yet to conquer. And with Shinra making waves across the desert, its likely left Nibelheim quiet vulnerable," Altair said a worried look in his eyes.

"Leachate? I'm not familar with him," Nanaki admitted. "After Dogan died, the Wutai army imposed martial law. Rebuilt Fort Tamblin, and attacked Midgar and Kalm," Evaleyt explained.

"Leachate was the one who took advantage of the power vacuum and managed to rise to the top thru his multiple victories in the east," Vance added and then stood up and added, "I would bet on it that he's actually here right now."

"Then we have to do something more than just try and escape," Denzel insisted looking at Nanaki and pleading, "Cosmo is still our home, and Corel whatever is left of it. We have to fight."

"We wouldn't last five minutes against a force like that," the fiery feline observed. "What about the buggy? At least we could mow down as many troops as possible on our way," Denzel suggested angrily.

"Someone is eager to shed blood," Seraphina said with a smirk as she crossed her arms and then added, "No, the best way to get to one of those airships would be deception. And I believe I have just the plan.."

Denzel and the others turned to focus their attention on the short haired woman, listening to each word she had to say.

Morning dew hung on the edge of the dune buggy as it slowly moved toward the edge of the village, each of the Wutai soldiers taking notice as the vehicle lumbered closer.

Even though a cold breeze was rolling in from the western sea, he couldn't help but to sweat, not sure if this insane plan would work. Cautiously several of the Chocobo riders approached as they got to the outer tents and one raised his javelin up to alert them to halt.

Seraphina finished putting on the makeup which made her more resemble a woman from Wutai and climbed out to speak with them.

"Perimeter patrol, I have a report on Shinra's movements that needs to get to the General right away," she stated in a no nonsense voice.

The two Chocobo riders glanced back and forth between each other clearly trying to make a decision and then the one that stood closer to the buggy muttered, "All right, park over to the western banks."

Seraphina nodded in thanks and climbed back into the transport shutting the hatch even as she looked at the rest of the small group and reassured them, "This is going to work."

Vance took the controls and turned the massive vehicle to the right even as more soldiers took notice of their approach and Denzel felt his heart beat faster with each move they made.

He had gone over the plan a hundred times in his head but was still sure it was going to fall apart. Even so, none of them said a word as Vance parked the buggy and then tossed weapons to Dirk, Evaleyt and Gharek.

"Nanaki you are the most recognized in our group, so you need to hide in the storage compartment," the blonde pilot told the feline.

"When we make the move to the airship how will I get the signal?" Red asked to which Seraphina laughed and said, "You'll know when sparks start flying."

Denzel held up the long sword he had given, wondering how many he would have to face to make it out of this alive. Vance gestured for the young man to follow him out the back way even as Seraphina neared the hatch again to allow soldiers to come inside and inspect the vehicle.

With darkness still hanging over all of the bay, the two of them slipped out the back ramp into the tall grass near another parked buggy with ease and Denzel whispered, "What now?"

"We need a high vantage point," Vance said gesturing toward the metallic ladder that was in the middle of the village. Surprisingly there were few warriors roaming the streets of Highwind Bay, he thought as he followed the leader of the mercenaries to the old launchpad.

Vance set his timer on his wrist to give them warning when their allotted minutes were up and then swung his rifle over his back and started to climb. Denzel followed him, feeling the midnight air sway the ladder back and forth.

He did his best not to look down, trying to reassure himself that the entire structure was still stable even as he heard commotion from the camp below. He clung to the ladder trying to crane his head and see even as Altair shouted, "Come on, Denzel!"

Finally at the top, he knew from this angle their plan to start an explosion could easily work, especially with the equipment they brought bit before they made another move Vance said, "Check to make sure Seraphina and the others have left the target area."

Slinging down his sash, Denzel got out the binoculars and laid flat to look at the camp below, wishing he could read lips to know what was happening.

"I don't see them..." he began and then corrected himself saying, "Hold on, Dirk, Evaleyt and Gharek are in position... I don't see Seraphina..."

He turned his head to search for the dark haired woman and then spotted her surrounded by Wutai soldiers on all sides even as another figure approached.

"Well?" Vance asked impatiently.

"Something is happening," Denzel said as the hooded figure reached his hand toward Seraphina's face and then threw back his cowl. Something about his face, the aged look and the streaking white hair felt familar and Vance said, "Is she safe?"

"I think our plan is on trouble," he said as he saw the look on her face and added, "This white haired guy isnt buying into her story.."

"Did you say white hair?" the pilot asked grabbing the binoculars and pushing Denzel back. The young man stood up letting Vance get a better look and then saw the mercenary straighten up when he apparently recognized the man.

"Weiss..."

"What?" Denzel asked not quite understanding even as Altair twirled about and immediately pointed his gun at the young man's face.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" he asked as Vance cocked the weapon and remarked, "It's nothing personal, Denzel. I rather like you."

"What?" Denzel asked as the mercenary prepared to shoot and then out of the shadows another figure leapt onto Altair's back. Denzel slid to one side of the launchpad ladder as he saw Nanaki bite at the mercenary's arm and then ordered, "Get to the airship Denzel! Now!"

For a moment he stood there trying to make sense of what just happened and then it all registered as he realized Vance had just tried to kill him and he started to climb down the ladder.

As he reached the bottom he heard a low growl of pain and looked up to see Nanaki fall to the ground below. Shouting out in alarm Denzel rushed to his side to check the feline for injuries.

By the time he reached him the Wutai troops had already taken notice and were closing in. He was glad to feel a pulse on the unconscious cat's neck and then looked up to see Vance finish climbing down the ladder and point the weapon at him again with his uninjured hand.

"Let's not make this any more difficult then it needs to be," Altair said as the Wutai soldiers approached cautious as ever and he added, "Take me to Weiss. Tell him I have what he has been looking for."


	12. Chapter XI

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

The muzzle of the weapon was held straight against the small of his back as they walked into the center of the camp, the others in the mercenary group also quickly subdued by other soldiers even as Denzel looked over at Seraphina and muttered, "Some plan."

"Boss, what is going on here?" Dirk asked as Vance walked over to the white haired man who seemed to be leading the group and then explained, "They have orders not to hurt any of you."

Behind him other troopers carried a bound Red XIII toward an airship and the muscular white haired man smiled with immense pleasure stating, "At last, we have the partner."

"I have held up my end of the deal, Weiss," Vance pointed out. "You... you sold us out?" Evaleyt asked in shock.

"We have been on the run for too long my dear," Altair argued as he gestured to the large army around them and added, "We are simply five hired guns against a changing world. I for one want to live long enough to see a few relaxing sunsets."

"So what was the original plan? Take us to Costa Del Sol and then make a deal with some Banora goon there?" Denzel asked.

"Our chief scientist would have taken care of the Verasat there, he is... most crucial to our operations," Weiss said as he walked over to where Seraphina and Evaleyt were being held, taking a moment to gaze at each of them carefully.

"And you just expect us to stand by?" Gharek asked and added angrily, "Nanaki trusted you!"

"They had my daughter!" Altair shouted back angrily as he crossed his arms and said, "They were never interested in us to begin with anyway."

"Some of you show potential," Weiss said as he touched Evaleyt on the cheek and Denzel snarled, "Get your hands off her!"

"The agreement was to bring Red XIII to you, it doesn't matter how I did it. Now you let us go in peace," Vance stated firmly.

The muscular man turned toward him with a smirk, his eyes showing a familar ring of Mako around the iris as he countered, "Do you really believe you are in any position to demand anything from me?"

Altair looked away, discomfort and anger covering his features as Weiss looked at all of the mercenaries and growled, "They will be taken to Tamblin. Once I confer with my master, we will determine their fate."

The white haired man walked away from them even as Denzel felt another soldier grab his wrists and force them against his back, tying them up tight to prevent any further trouble. Then they were led together toward one of the airships on the south side of Highwind Bay.

Denzel glared at the leader of the Five Totema, wondering how he could have been fooled to think they could trust him. The blonde pilot looked visibly upset that this was happening but said nothing for the time being as they were forced inside the storage compartment of the airship.

As the guards forced them to a kneeling position, he glanced first at the twins and then at Seraphina and Evaleyt wondering if any of them had any ideas on how to get out of this. But sadly Vance had already taken the last of their Materia, so anything of that sort was lost, he thought.

Once the Wutai soldiers made certain that they were bound securely, they returned to the encampment and Denzel asked the two women, "Are you all right?"

"Only thing that I hurt is my pride. Vance and I have been partners for three years now. I knew his family, he never told me that his daughter was in danger..." Seraphina growled. "Why would he do this?" the other girl asked softly as she looked down at the dusty floor.

"He didn't tell any of us. We were all like family," Dirk agreed. "Nanaki is going to be taken away if we dont think of something soon," Denzel urged them.

"Safer for him to be away from here rather than shipped off to Wutai. Fort Tamblin will be overrun with soldiers, and worse the trained ninjas of the city," the dark haired woman pointed out.

"Is there nothing we can do?" he asked in desperation. "Patience, and we will formulate a plan. None of us were prepared for this," Gharek pointed out.

The young man sighed looking about at the contents of the airship, noticing that the previous assumption of the Wutai invading was likely correct. There were enough explosives here to reshape Cosmo Canyon he thought. He slumped down feeling rather overwhelmed with sadness as he realized that the journey they had started out on was now taking a dark turn.

He heard the sound of the airship cargo doors opened and turned his head to see a slim female ninja approach completely covered in dark garb from head to toe. At first he thought she intended to strike him yet instead she pulled him away from the others almost urgently.

Denzel tried to fight it for a moment until she uncovered her face and found himself looking at an old friend. "Yuffie?" he asked in surprise as the wily ninja held up a finger to tell him to be quiet. He nodded and then she explained, "If you are and your new friends want to make it thru this alive you need to stay here. Kay?"

He wanted to ask her so much, especially about the time since they had last met but clearly the young ninja maiden still had a lot to take care of and added quickly, "For now act like you have never met me. Trust me Denzel and we will make it out of this mess."

Leaping away she covered her face again and gave him a wink. Soon the cargo doors were closed again and Evaleyt walked over to where he was at with bound hands and asked, "What did they tell you?"

He smiled at her and replied, "That we might have a chance still."


	13. Chapter XII

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

First there was a low hum, the sound of the four engines starting up and then a roar as they pushed the airship into the sky.

The group of captured mercenaries held onto the closest strappings as the vessel shook and drifted away from Highwind Bay. Denzel thought about Nanaki, how he wanted to go after him immediately but didn't even know where to look.

He sighed sitting back down on the cold floor of the hangar, unsure what would happen next. Yuffie had told them all to sit tight and wait, but it had been nearly three hours now with no sign of the Wutai woman.

He remembered during the early years how the ninja had always been there to help them make a quick escape when fighting Shinra, but then how she had been reassigned to a classified mission from Reeve. Later he found out that Yuffie had volunteered when she had heard of Leachate's quick takeover following the death of her father, and now that they were together again Denzel fully understood.

Wutai had always been in opposition to the way Shinra had selfishly guzzled up Mako, but with Leachate in charge things had changed. Yuffie had chosen to go undercover to find out why. And perhaps to find a way to regain the support of a resistance, he hoped.

As the airship settled into a comfortable speed he heard the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up to see several soldiers enter the room. "Up on your feet," one said grabbing Seraphina and Evaleyt and yanking them.

"Like we have a choice," the older of the two muttered. "Where are you taking them?" Gharek asked. "It doesn't concern you," one replied as they left the room again.

The twins turned to Denzel as though he were their leader now and Dirk asked, "Are we just going to sit here?"

The wavy haired youth looked about the cargo bay to see if there was anything they could use to free them of their bonds and then noticed several crates that were all chained together. Clearly either something fragile or explosive he realized as he gestured with his head for them to get on one side of the towering boxes.

As they got in position Denzel kicked at the chains searching for the weakest one and then felt the airship rock and realized he could use that momentum to his advantage.

Another jolt came and he kicked at the central chain, noting that the bolts on the top were loosening. They had to work this way for a good five minutes until at last the chain fell to his feet. Denzel turned around and bent down so his tied up hands could grasp the chain and then began to walk around to the side where the twins were waiting.

"Pull," he ordered as they got ahold of the chain. With it now wrapped around at an awkward angle, the top crate began to shift and the three of them tugged and watched as it prepared to fall. At the last moment they ran out of the way watching as the wooden box splintered onto the floor, a load of Materia rolling in all directions.

Denzel searched the contents frantically trying to find one that would help them in their current situation. Above them the trio heard more footsteps, the commotion they had caused attracting the soldiers. "Just get what you can," Dirk decided scooping up several.

Denzel did so too as the soldiers arrived and he spotted Yuffie leading the group.

The short woman walked over some of the mess they had made and remarked, "Somehow I knew you would be trouble." She pulled Denzel close to him and growled, "The General wants to see you." At the same time he felt her slip some kind of small knife in his back pocket and then nodded silently as she said, "You will have five minutes to get to the outer deck."

He gestured with his hand the number five to the twins as Yuffie led them to the upper control center where at least twelve more soldiers waited along with Leachate himself.

The man had salt and pepper hair along with a moustache, looked about as tall as Denzel and wore a traditional Wutai coat they reminded him of what Reeve used to wear, albeit this one was a dark red fabric with military badges adorning his right breastplate. To his left the young man spotted Evaleyt and Seraphina both who looked genuinely happy to see him. Hopefully we can get out of this mess, he thought as the General approached him.

"Midgar scum, what brought you all the way to my doorstep?" Leachate asked with a typical Wutai accent.

"We didn't come here by invitation, we don't have a quarrel with you," Denzel explained. The General scoffed and then gestured toward the two women were sitting and replied, "Yet you came here with these defects. Do you know why it is that New Banora is rising and becoming stronger each day? Because we are pure, we are returning to our roots and drawing closer to our purpose. Yet these imperfections still stand in our way."

"You're crazy," Seraphina muttered. "You left your calling long ago," Leachate said moving over to her and preparing to choke her. "leave her alone, we don't know what you are talking about but we don't want a part in it!" Dirk insisted.

Leachate turned to them preparing to say something else when one of his men said in alarm, "Sir, we have picked up another ship closing in on us."

Denzel turned to see Yuffie nod that it was time and just as the General was distracted, he cut his bonds and reached onto his pocket to take out the Materia. Immediately the soldiers closest to him pulled their weapons and the aged man glared at him and said, "You don't know when to give up do you boy?"

"I keep fighting until my last breath!" Denzel said as he activated the orb and tossed it toward the soldiers, a blaze of fire bursting out as it hit the ground. He ran over to Dirk and Gharek, cutting them lose and saying, "We need to get to the outer deck!"

Leachate took out his gun pointed it at Seraphina and said, "You won't be going anywhere my dear."

Denzel gritted his teeth and then felt the whole airship buckle as though it were hit by something massive and Leachate fell to the floor his gun sliding away. The young man grabbed Seraphina but watched as Evaleyt helplessly fell toward the General. "Go, I can handle this!" he insisted as another blast from the enemy ship rocked them.

The dark haired woman nodded and ran as Denzel confronted the soldier standing between him and Evaleyt. He kicked at him and punched his stomach causing the soldier to lose their rapier which he hastily picked up. Leachate was back on his feet and whipped out his own long sword as he stood straight in front of Denzel and stated, "Don't you understand why Banora is so strong? The Planet has blessed us! We are doing what is necessary to save us all! All you are doing is standing in the way of progress."

The two blades met harshly as Denzel parried and then whipped around in a circle to try and find an opening, but despite his age clearly Leachate was still a skilled swordsman. They danced back and forth for a moment as he tried to deflect each blow the General made, finding that his energy was wanting even as more soldiers arrived to assist their leader.

"Surrender yourself now and I will see to it your death is merciful," the aged military man insisted as he knocked the weapon from Denzel's hand. "Never," he spat back.

"Denzel, watch out!" Gharek said as he tossed a strong explosive Materia into the mix. The young man leapt toward Evaleyt, the two of them rolling as the bomb went off and shattered a portion of the glass in the control room.

Getting to their feet they ran out as the other Wutai soldiers raced to catch them, Denzel gasped for breath as they entered the corridor where even more gun toting soldiers waited. Gharek and Dirk stood there and took out the other Materia they had gesturing toward the stairs and the twins ordered in unison, "Get out of here!"

Seraphina led the way up the stairs to the outer deck where Denzel finally caught sight of their rescuers. Even with the extensive cloud cover he would recognize the ship anywhere. It was the Shera II. The familiar emblazon sticker of the woman was all he needed to see to realize that they were going to be safe.

But in that moment where he was distracted, a gun shot rang past him and struck the dark haired girl in her right arm. Denzel shouted at her as Seraphina fell to the deck screaming in pain.

A group of resistance fighters fell to the deck with long ropes tied around their waist, each one let go of the rope and then activated their guns firing at the incoming enemy troops to protect them as Denzel fell to her side and looked at her wound.

"Is she going to be okay?" Evaleyt asked in concern noting how deep the shot had gone. "I think.. I think my arm is broken," she said closing her eyes to try and block out the pain.

Just then a short shadow jumped toward them and landed gracefully, Yuffie threw back her hood and muttered, "You guys need to go now if you want to get out of here!"

"What about the others?" Denzel asked glancing back down the stairs to where the twins were at. "Either you three go or none of you do," Yuffie warned.

Another round of strong energy volleys flew overhead as Denzel realized she was right and lifted Seraphina up to her feet motioning toward the rope. "Be safe," Yuffie added as she jumped away into the fray.

The three of them tied the thick rope around their waists and then watched as they were lifted away from the Wutai airship. The Shera II hung in the sky for a moment as it pulled away, and then just as quickly as they had been saved the enemy ships had disappeared too.

Denzel collapsed onto the deck of the airship, watching as medics appeared to take Seraphina inside. He felt responsible for what had happened, and even more so since they had to leave Dirk and Gharek behind. He lay there on the cold exterior of the ship until at last a large familiar looking white creature appeared and blinked at him.

The robotic giant moogle extended it's paw to him and Cait Sith asked, "Hey, you gonna get up now?"


	14. Chapter XIII

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

The bright midday sun cast it's light across the shimmering cloak that kept the airship hidden, a soft coastal wind rustling across the deck as Denzel stood and watched the ocean waves lap against the shore of the Corel area peacefully.

According to his new robotic friend, the pilot had chosen to lay low in this alcove for the time being until they were certain that the Wutai forces had chosen to not look for them. No reason to bring them to the doorstep of the WRO, Cait Sith had explained.

He looked down at the bruises and the dirt that covered his body, recalling everything they had just endured and laughed softly. Anyone else wouldn't see the irony of how they had slipped through the hands of their enemy this many times, but for Denzel he just felt so happy to be back with friends.

A small black figure hopped up to the rail next to him and the cat peered out toward the mountains and muttered, "You're a strange one laddie, I will give you that."

Straightening up Denzel asked the cat, "How is Seraphina?" "Why don't you go see yourself! I'm not a nursemaid!" the other replied as he twisted his whiskers. The young man gave him a half hearted smile and then walked off deck to the interior of the Shera II.

The ship was built almost entirely like it's predecessor with two separate decks, one solely for the crew and the other designed for guests. As he walked down the stairs to sickbay, he looked about at all of those who were still loyal to the WRO, wondering partially how they kept their hope alive and also where they had been these past few years.

Pushing open the door to the sickbay, Denzel easily spotted Seraphina lying on the bed farthest from the windows and Evaleyt was busy watching over her even as the doctor returned again and commented, "I don't know if we can do much here. Our tools are a bit rusty.."

The black haired girl was unconscious and breathing slow, it looked like she was in a lot of pain he thought. "When do we reach your headquarters?" Denzel asked wondering if they would be able to repair the wound.

"Not my decision," the Doctor admitted gesturing toward the door and adding, "The Colonel is already in a foul mood so I recommend treading lightly.."

He looked over at Evaleyt who stood up and adjusted her shirt before commenting, "Come on Denzel, lets go talk to him and tell him we need to get this show on the road!"

He nodded pushing back his wavy hair and following the brown haired girl down the corridors of the airship. The ship shook softly from the midday breeze as they made their way to the bridge where over a dozen soldiers were watching the screens. Even though they weren't moving right now Denzel knew they all had a job to do.

In the middle of the room stood a man who had a more important job than any of them, even if it looked like he was simply barking out orders. He stood there hands on his hips, his body slightly tilted as he leaned to look over the railing at one of the consoles on the lower deck, looking almost exactly the same way Denzel remembered him.

His hair was a little more gray now than blonde with a few streaks of white in it it too, but he still wore the same green cargo pants, blue shirt and white scarf that made him instantly recognizable. As he turned toward them Denzel noted the only thing missing was the traditional cigarette that normally hung from the side of his mouth as Cid Highwind's blue eyes seemed to light up at his arrival.

"Well, well, if it isn't the man of the hour and one of his leading ladies," Cid commented dryly as he walked toward them.

"It's good to see you again, Colonel," Denzel said with a smile.

Cid sneered and muttered, "Wish I could say the feeling was mutual. But you put the ol' girl here thru the ringer. When I see Yuffie again in going to wring her neck!"

"Is that why we haven't moved?" Evaleyt asked to which he nodded and said, "The World Regenesis Organization has barely limped by these last few years, especially after we lost Corel. We can't risk leading those Wutai back to HQ."

"Seraphina won't make it that long..." Denzel muttered to which Cid crossed his arms and growled, "Don't throw me a pity party for your girlfriend. I don't have any concerns for that Wutai b-" "Colonel, on visual!" one officer reported.

The aged pilot turned to watch as two small craft circled their location and he asked, "Is the Vanish Materia still active?"

"Yes sir, I think they are searching for heat signatures."

"Blow then out of the sky before they spot us!" Cid ordered and then turned back to Denzel and said, "Look I'm not going to risk my crew to get going just for her. It's a sacrifice but this is war. Cloud would do the same if he were here."

Denzel bit his lip wanting to make a retort but he held it back, even though he wanted to help Seraphina he knew the Colonel was right.

He turned to see what Evaleyt's reaction was only to see the young girl had left already. He frowned and did so too, returning to the sickbay to see her hunched over the unconscious Wutai woman.

"I'm going to try something," she explained as she extended both her hands and placed them on Seraphina's arm over the wound. Evaleyt closed her eyes and seemed to say some type of prayer as Denzel watched wordlessly.

The brown haired girl's hands began to glow as she continued silently and then soft green light seemed to transfer from somewhere in her body toward Seraphina. Denzel watched the monitors as the other woman increased in heart rate. The doctor ran to see what was happening as the light became almost blinding and then Evaleyt pulled away.

He looked in astonishment as the monitors returned to normal and so did his patient's arm. The wound healed quickly as the doctor took off his glasses and asked in shock, "How did you do that?"

But Evaleyt had collapsed on the bed next to him and Denzel looked at them both in confusion. General Leachate called them both imperfect he recalled. He knew now that Seraphina had indeed once been loyal to him, but what about Evaleyt?

He realized as he looked at the unconscious girl that he didn't really know much about either of them.


	15. Chapter XIV

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

It was almost sundown by the time the Shera II lifted away from the Corel area. Colonel Highwind seemed satisfied that no other Wutai patrols were moving about and gave the order for maximum speed to the Northern Continent.

The doctor had immediately told the Colonel of the strange way Evaleyt had healed Seraphina, causing Denzel to be asked several questions about the girl. Sadly, he didn't have much to tell. .

"There have been rumors ever since Shinra came under the Don's supervision that some girls have been taken from Gongaga, Kalm and Costa Del Sol. I always assumed it was the ol' perv trying to replenish his harem... but maybe it was something else," Cid commented rubbing his thin beard thoughtfully.

"I still don't know how Deepground rallied around him," the young man said as he stared out at the starry night sky. "Power vacuum, kiddo. They go to whomever has the money and power," Cid said as he reached into his pocket impulsively for a cigarette and then cursed softly under his breath.

"Trying to quit?" he asked. "Hell no," he bit back and then explained, "President says no budget for them. Haven't had s good smoke in weeks. It's torture." "I guess that's one way to kick the habit," Denzel observed. "Might just raid Midgar for some .." the Colonel said bitterly.

"How bad has it gotten?" he asked. "Oh I keep forgetting you and Red decided to play hooky in Cosmo while the rest of us had our asses handed to us!" the pilot said with a short laugh as he leaned against the railing and muttered, "To be honest. I didn't think we would make it this long."

"We were winning the war. What went wrong?" Denzel said shaking his head.

"Once Banora developed that... thing. We didn't stand a chance. We underestimated them, big time. They waited until after they had already got our best and struck when we were down. Cloud, Vincent. Then Barret. Not many of us left to keep the fight going much longer," the old man muttered.

Denzel didn't say anything, knowing that for the most part the Colonel was right. He remembered the assault on Junon, back when he was only thirteen. They didn't know how strong Banora was then, so they thought they had the advantage.

Then they had seen the new Weapon. Somehow the rising power had crafted an artificial force that fed off of the Planet. He still didn't know how they had made it but after that the war had changed. From then on we have been on the run, and Wutai swore allegiance to them, he recalled. It was just like Cid had said, the one that had the money and the power was who they would always go to. It seemed like now they were just delaying the inevitable.

So much loss, it was hard to even think of those who were gone forever. "But it ain't all bad," Cid said as though he could read the young man's thoughts and then turned about to lean his back on the rail. "Supposedly the President has a plan, he sure is keeping it to himself though. Guess he will have to speed up schedule though, now that Shinra is out in full force," the Colonel commented dryly.

"I hope you're right," he replied as he caught the first glimpse of the Northern Continent. Like a blanket of white against the shadowy horizon, the stretch of land soon encompassed all they could see from any angle, and Denzel instantly felt colder even though they were still inside the airship.

Snow gently hit against the side of the Shera II as it sped toward the western portion of the mountains, an area that Denzel recalled had once been a tourist trap in the old days. Somewhere beneath the clouds and snow, a small snowboarding business had briefly started up during the rise of Shinra. But with so many things going wrong across the world, Denzel knew not much was left of Icicle Inn except perhaps the wandering Bandersnatch that enjoyed the areas plentiful supply of fish and other meaty game. South of the ruins of the hotel, Denzel caught sight of where they were going a dark cavern that appeared to be a man-made entrance of some sort that dove straight into the glacier itself.

The airship slowed down and sent out some kind of beacon alerting those hidden in the base to open the gates as they flew into darkness artificial light came on from both sides of the tunnel to guide their path. A snow covered gateway lurched slowly open and led to a landing pad where Denzel caught sight of a variety of workers moving about the hideout to prepare for their landing. One officer shone a small wand to gesture for Cid to land, and he turned to the Colonel to give the signal.

Soon the cold air from outside was replaced by a calm moderate tempature and Cid saw his eager expression and muttered, "Go on kid, they're waitin' for ya."

Rushing off the bridge he made it to the deck the same time as Cait Sith and hopped onto the robotic moogle to get him to the metallic cargo bay below even as several WRO soldiers arrived to help the crew members unload from the trip.

Once on the ground, Denzel scanned the room and immediately froze when he saw the person he had been searching for. She stood there, a soft smile on her face, her jet black hair blowing slightly from the airship's propellers as she walked toward him, it almost felt like a dream to see her again.

She still wore the same outfit, the long black skirt with boots and familiar tunic except this one was long sleeved to fit the cold environment they were now in. He ran into her arms, hugging her tight as he tried to hold back tears, muttering, "I never thought I would see you again."

Using her only arm, her right; Tifa Lockhart embraced her adopted son and said, "Welcome back Denzel.".

 _ **Author's note: I hope it is satisfying to start to see some familiar faces in the story. Trust me when I say we are nowhere near done, and the development of the story is only beginning! Please keep reading and reviewing!**_


	16. Chapter XV

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Hot water streamed out of the showerhead hitting his scalp and immediately he ran his fingers thru his hair to wash out the dirt and grime that had caked up over the past week since he had left Cosmo. He leaned back against the tile wall and let the shower rinse off the rest of his sore muscles, closing his eyes and finally relaxing.

He didn't really have reason to feel comfortable though, considering how in the end he was no further to discovering what Shinra and New Banora were up to, and why they both were so interested in Red XIII.

Now the friend who had promised to keep him safe was the one in danger, all because of me, he thought. Although he knew that Vance was truly the one responsible he didn't have any way of reaching Nanaki right now.. unless he convinced the WRO.

Denzel stepped out of the shower and onto a fresh towel, noticing that there were fresh clothes that had been laid out for him. He wad surprised to find that the gray slacks and dark shirt fit him nicely and once he had finished getting dressed he laced up his boots and walked out to the interior of the hideout.

A slow moving carrier made its way past him as he walked past the guard that handled the area where most of the soldiers stayed during downtime, a vast column of steam rising from below him that somehow powered the entire underground facility.

Walking down the grated stairs into the main conference room, Denzel smiled at his adoptive mother who was standing near the right of the light as he walked in.

Tifa smiled back and then his eyes caught sight of Evaleyt. She had recovered from her fainting spell and also cleaned up, changing into warmer clothes to fit the cold environment they were in now. Knee high brown boots and a long skirt that covered most of her black leggings she wore underneath. And then a buttoned up red tunic with a matching leather jacket which laced up in the back. Her brown eyes sparkled at him and for the first time Denzel really noticed just how beautiful she was.

A cough from the front of the room diverted his attention to see the leader of the motley crew had entered. He looked weary, as though the long years of fighting Shinra had taken its toll on him. But he still had the familiar goatee and moustache, curled up in a fashion that reminded everyone he was still going to stay clean cut even though their situation was dire.

Reeve gestured for them all to sit down, and the group obliged as Denzel wondered if this was all that was left of those who were fighting for their freedom. A young girl he barely recognized sat beside Reeve and began to type what he said as he spoke, "An occasion like this normally requires celebration. But I'm afraid after listening to Colonel Highwind's report of what happened near the Wutai border we won't be able to have anything like that anytime soon."

He looked toward Denzel and said, "From what I understand, you and your friends have been thru a great deal and not all of you made it."

"Yes sir, Yuffie was able to get a signal out before we reached Fort Tamblin. But two in our party were captured," he said with a nod.

"That girl is going to get killed if she isn't careful," Tifa muttered. "She didn't expose herself, I'm fairly certain General Leachate was unaware of her involvement in our rescue," Evaleyt commented.

"Time will tell on that, but we were the ones rushing head first into a sticky situation. For over a year now this organization has been trying to get back on its feet to prepare for a new counterattack, and we may have messed everything up," Reeve admitted.

"You thought Red was there, you weren't expecting just us," Denzel realized, feeling a bit miffed that they weren't a priority in the President's mind.

Tifa placed her hand on his shoulder and explained, "You have to understand, we wanted Shinra to think you were both dead. After Costa Del Sol, we lost Corel so easily. And Nanaki came up with the treaty with Banora to protect you both for as long as possible. If we could have we would have brought you here sooner. But then we would've risked exposing us all."

"Shinra held off from the Cosmo area for over three years, they focused on the Desert. But eventually, Red knew his treaty was going to be just words to them. He must have realized Shinra would make a deal with Banora and that's why he tried to get out when he did," Reeve explained. "A lot of good it did him," Denzel said bitterly.

"We can't focus on what has happened but rather what we intend to do now," the President said sternly even as a few more faces entered the room. Denzel nodded and smiled silently at Seraphina as she and the robotic moogle walked in from behind Reeve even while he continued talking by saying, "For the past six months, Yuffie has been feeding us intel regarding Wutai and their actions in connection to New Banora. Now that this capture of Nanaki has occurred, we believe we know something about what they are up to."

Almost as if on cue the young girl next to him stood up and activated some type of display in the center of the room, soon Denzel found himself staring at a hologram of the world map that they were all familiar with. Then slowly a yellow light highlighted portions of the Corel and Midgar Continent as she explained, "Shinra's movements over the past six months. We began to study the possibility that they were searching for something whenever they started excavation near to Kalm right before the attack on Costa Del Sol."

"From this analysis, we believe that they have been gathering large amounts of Mako from old unused sites, ones that the first President deemed too difficult to dig. This is most likely what led to their attack on the Saucer," she continued as the map zoomed in on the southern segment of the glacier they were near.

"Approximately two months ago, Banora moved its team of experts onto the area surrounding Bone Village. They have been performing similar actions as what I just described. This leads us to believe that for the first time in years, these two superpowers are working together for a common goal," the girl said as she sat down again.

"What could possibly be out there?" Evaleyt asked. Reeve looked at her skeptically but then noting the girls innocence replied, "The Forgotten Capitol of the Ancients. They were blessed with a connection to the Planet we can only dream about. Undoubtedly these two power hungry forces believe that their ultimate goal is here, because recently there had been an influx of arriving forces to finish the excavation."

"What does this have to do with Red?" Cid muttered impatiently. "We have often wondered how they managed to craft a new Weapon, perhaps their capturing of Red XIII is another clue toward their goal: somehow Banora has gained information relating to the Cetra and their history. And that has led them here," Reeve replied.

"His race has always been connected to the Planet," Tifa recalled. "Either way, we can't worry about him right now. The key to stopping both Shinra and Banora is here on this continent," Reeve muttered looking at them all.

Denzel looked at all of their uncertain faces and then asked, "So what are we waiting for? If they have been here for two months then we need to act now."

"We have survived for a year because we are not headstrong like you, boy," the Colonel spit out to which President Tuvesti nodded and answered, "We don't know what awaits us in the Capitol. But we will be sending a small scouting party out tomorrow at dawn, to get an idea."

"I want to go, Banora has been ahead of us every step of the way. Ever since Cloud... they have taken everything from me, I want to do something to get them back," the young man said instinctively.

Reeve looked at him and then toward Tifa and stated, "I'm afraid the decision was made well before you showed up Denzel. You and your friends are going to recover while the Colonel handles this one."

"But we do want to help," Seraphina insisted. Denzel knew that answer would also be no and it made him feel as though they were all treating them like kids. He didn't want to listen to another word, even if it was for the best.

Standing up, he glared at his adoptive mother knowing her overprotective spirit was likely the root cause of all of this and then stormed out hoping no one saw the tears in his eyes.

 **Author's note: I will be taking a brief pause to correct a few errors in earlier chapters that have been noted by my faithful reviewer, UnlikeUs, and ask that if any further errors are being made please let me be aware as I want accuracy and completeness in this story. That being said, I heartily encourage all to please review. Criticism and questions help me expand my story even more. Hopefully some of the expansion I have made so far is pleasing including the reintroduction of old favorites. I should have all the errors fixed today and be able to continue forward soon enough.**


	17. Chapter XVI

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

He found a small corner behind some crates marked with the seal of the WRO to hide behind and cry softly, wishing that the guilt and anger he felt could just melt away.

When he opened his eyes he looked up and saw Evaleyt standing there looking down and for a moment there was just silence as they both stared at each other. Then finally the brown haired girl knelt down and asked softly, "Who is Cloud?"

He looked at her in astonishment, trying to remember the last time anyone had ever asked him something like that and he truthfully couldn't think of any time at all.

"He was a hero," Denzel replied as he shook away the emotions that had overwhelmed him and Evaleyt looked at him again and asked, "When did he die?"

"A long time ago, I was just a child. Back when this news about a revolution in Banora was brand new, Cloud wanted to go see what was happening," he explained, an image of his adoptive father springing into his mind as he watched him ride away.

"I hardly remember it," she admitted to which he nodded and said, "For a long time, we were sure he would could back. He always did. But then days turned to weeks... and weeks into years. The fight kept going but we knew without Cloud things had changed."

"He was special to you," Evaleyt realized.

"Special to all of us," Tifa amended as she walked up placing her hand on Denzel's shoulder and adding, "But when we realized how powerful our enemies could be, we had to adapt and fight harder than we ever had before. We been doing that ever since, and lost a lot along the way."

"So being cautious is justified," Denzel said with a sigh and added, "I just wish, I could be more involved."

"You have done enough already," Tifa reassured him and said, "I can't stand the thought of losing you, especially when I just got you back."

His adoptive mother shed a tear and then added, "I have to go now. Promise you will be all right?'

Denzel smiled back reassuringly to her and then once she was gone Evaleyt commented, "I'm sorry if I was prying." "No, its okay. We have to understand each other for any of this to work," he said as they walked away from the conference room.

"Yeah, but I can't even answer the number one question everyone has for me," the light brown haired girl admitted. "You mean how did you heal Seraphina?" Denzel guessed to which she nodded and fidgeted with her ear uncomfortably.

"I don't know how I got this gift, and it takes everything I have to control it. That's why I don't tell people, I don't want anyone to think I'm a freak or some sort of experiment," she explained. "I understand, I'm just glad you were able to help her. A gift like that isn't one to be wasted for sure," he told her as they stared out toward the group of soldiers that was getting ready to depart.

"There has to be something we can do," Evaleyt reasoned and added, "There are bound to be monsters that they won't anticipate."

"You two trying to get into more trouble?" a voice behind him asked and Denzel turned to see Seraphina there looking at them both with a stern gaze.

"No, just wishing they would let us be part of the mission," he answered. "I never been one to listen to orders much, what would it take for us to get to the Forgotten Capitol?" Seraphina asked.

"You mean just by ourselves?" Evaleyt asked. "Food, water, weapons," Denzel replied. "It would be at least a day or so to get there," the Wutainese woman declared.

"We would have to choose a different route along the Great Glacier. It could be more dangerous," Denzel added. "Guys do we really want to do this? We have orders to stay put," Evaleyt said nervously.

"I can't, this is our fight, our world. Cid may think he can handle this alone, but I want answers," he said. "I agree, I think I can gather everything we need in under an hour. Meet me at the South emergency exit, we can make it across the glacier by nightfall," Seraphina declared and then turned to the other girl and asked, "Are you coming with us?"

Evaleyt sighed and nodded reluctantly saying, "You're going to need a healer anyway. And somebody with an ounce of sanity."


End file.
